Emissions of lead into the air to be greatly reduced in U.S.

EPA toughens rules to protect children's health

WASHINGTON – The amount of lead that can be emitted into the air in the United States will be dramatically reduced under a rule the Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday to protect the health of millions of Americans – especially children.

It was the first new rule on airborne lead in 30 years, and it came in response to more than 6,000 scientific studies since 1990 that show that lead is dangerous to the human body at much lower levels than previously known.

The EPA was under a court order to complete its review for a new lead standard.

The studies have linked low levels of lead to damage to children's nervous systems that can lead to IQ loss, poor academic achievement and permanent learning disabilities, EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said in announcing the new standard. In adults, it can cause increased blood pressure and decreased kidney function.

Children are especially vulnerable. Airborne lead can be inhaled, but also contaminates soil. The main way humans are exposed, however, is from ingesting tainted dirt or dust, as when children play in a polluted area and put their hands in their mouths.

The EPA last set a standard for lead at 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air in 1978. The new standard is 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter.

The new standard was in line with what EPA staff scientists and an independent body of science advisers said was necessary.

“Despite the dramatic decrease in environmental lead exposure, lead toxicity remains a major public health problem,” the science advisory panel reported.

Emissions of lead into the air dropped by 97 percent since 1978, mainly because the government banned it in gasoline, Johnson said. But today more than 16,000 facilities such as smelters, cement factories and steel plants emit an estimated 1,300 tons of lead into the air annually.

“The new stronger standards address these remaining emissions and offer a shield to protect the health of our nation's children,” Johnson said.

“They did a great job,” said Gina Solomon of the Natural Resources Defense Council and a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, who pushed for the new lower standard.

But, she said, the EPA must “greatly expand the lead monitoring network if they hope to enforce this new standard.”

The new rule requires a monitor in areas with populations of 500,000 or more. The agency estimated it would need to add or relocate 236 monitors.

The EPA will designate areas that fail to meet the new standard by October 2011. Based on air quality data from collected from 2005 to 2007, 18 counties in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas would fail to meet the standard.

The EPA said the cost of the reductions would be $150 million to $2.8 billion, but the standard would produce economic benefits of $3.7 billion to $6.9 billion. In calculating the benefits, the agency assumed that children would be smarter and earn more money as a result of less lead in the air.

The government was under a court order to review the standard after a 2004 lawsuit by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment on behalf of two former residents of Herculaneum, Mo., the home of the last lead smelter in the United States. The smelter repeatedly has violated the older health standard for lead in recent years. Blood taken from children in the area in 2002 showed elevated concentrations of the toxic metal.

The Doe Run Co., which operates the Herculaneum smelter, said the facility is now in compliance with the current standard. Dan Vornberg, the company's vice president for environmental affairs, said the new standard “will have a significant impact on our operations” and will require exploring options such as new technologies and process adjustments.